Nixon Library Visit

On Monday I went with my wife and grown daughters to the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. It was a fascinating look at a larger than life character who unquestionably helped shape an age. You can go to Library site here. Nixon made real impacts, some negative and some positive. Ultimately, of course, his memory and place in history are tied up with the Greek-tragedy personality flaws, primarily paranoia and hubris, that led to his resignation in disgrace in 1974 to avoid certain impeachment and conviction.

The museum itself is quite attractive, as are the grounds. The entrance is nondescript but part of the overall building resembles the White House. There is a recreation of the Lincoln Bedroom and the large East Room, which seemed bigger than the actual East Room in the White House. Outdoors in the back is the small home in which Nixon was born; it came in a kit by railroad from Indiana and his father assembled it on the site. The landscaping is very attractive and includes a long reflecting pool and fountain that is reminiscent of the one at the Martin Luther King historical site in Atlanta. Among the memorable displays are the Presidential limousine he used and the Presidential helicopter that served the presidents from Kennedy through Ford. Yes, it is the famous craft Nixon rode off the White House lawn after tendering his resignation where he gave those memorable double "V" signs.

Inside you can watch the "Checkers" speech in which Nixon saved his spot on the ticket as Eisenhower's running mate in 1952 and the debate with John F. Kennedy when they ran for President in 1960. There is a huge section on his groundbreaking trips to China and Russia and an interesting room featuring life size likenesses of the 10 greatest world leaders of his time, including such people as Kruschev and Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, Mao Tse-Tung and Chou-En-Lai of China, Winston Churchill of Britain, Charles de Gaulle of France, Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Golda Meir of Israel. The collection of gifts from foreign potentates was absolutely stunning. All are considered property on loan from the National Archives.

There was certainly a tendency of the Nixon Foundation displays to place the former President in a positive light. One that stuck out to me was a display that said Nixon took office after campaigning in 1968 promising to "bring us together again" in the face of division over civil rights and Vietnam, and that his landslide re-election victory in 1972 "proved he had done so." I understand the former display on Watergate was somewhat of a whitewash.

Thanks to a new Watergate section at the end of the walk-through, that is no longer the case. The National Archives put it together, and it includes an unvarnished factual treatment of the background and misdoings of Nixon and his associates. It ends playing what amounts to Nixon's own confession in his famous interview with David Frost.

The site continues to be used for important historical and political functions. To inaugurate the new Watergate display, reporter Bob Woodward and editor Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post were on hand to host an evening forum in the replica East Room. They were just arriving in the foyer as we and the rest of the paying tourists were being cleared out of the building at 5:00 P.M. They were formerly considered personae non grata by the Nixon Foundation for their role in bringing Nixon down, but since the forum was being conducted by the National Archives they were invited and were glad to come. As I bought a biographical DVD at the guest shop on the way out, the clerk told me the Nixon Foundation has "important figures" come and explain their take on history at East Room receptions and functions too. Two he mentioned were Ann Coulter and Bill O' Reilly.